Invalid reassessment notice did not invalidate a timely return; section 22(3) still applied to the filing.

A return filed in response to an invalid notice under section 34 of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 was held capable of qualifying as a valid return under section 22(3) if it was otherwise valid and filed before assessment became time-barred. Section 22(3) was interpreted as permitting a return at any time before assessment, without requiring it to be wholly voluntary or unprompted. The invalidity of the reassessment notice did not automatically invalidate the return made in response to it. On that footing, the later reassessment challenge failed, and the return remained effective for section 22(3) purposes.

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Issues: Whether a return filed in response to an invalid notice under section 34 of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 could still be treated as a valid return under section 22(3), and whether a further reassessment notice under section 34(1)(a) was sustainable.

Analysis: Section 22(3) permits an assessee to furnish a return at any time before assessment is made. The Court held that the sub-section does not require the return to be suo motu or voluntary in the sense of being unprompted. A return filed pursuant to a notice under section 34, if otherwise valid and filed before the expiry of the period during which assessment could still be made, falls within the language of section 22(3). The Court distinguished earlier authority dealing with invalid reassessment notices and held that the invalidity of the notice did not automatically invalidate the return filed in response to it.

Conclusion: The return dated 4 September 1948 was a valid return under section 22(3), and the reassessment proceedings based on treating it as such could not be said to fail on the ground urged by the appellant.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the reassessment notice failed, and the assessee's return remained effective for the purposes of section 22(3).

Ratio Decidendi: A return filed before the expiry of the reassessment period is not rendered invalid merely because it was made in response to an invalid notice under section 34; if otherwise valid, it is a return under section 22(3) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922.

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